Machine with press assembly for electrically testing a printed circuit board

Abstract: A machine and relative press assembly for electrically testing a printed circuit board, comprising a frame (1) supporting a press with parallel planes, said press having a printed circuit loading area (3), a test area (4) and a parking area (5) for the upper head of the press, as well as means for moving said head (100) from the test area (4) to the parking area (5) and vice versa, to allow manual loading of the circuits to be tested directly in the test area (4) and means for moving the circuit boards from the loading area (3) to the test area (4) and vice versa, in the case of automatic or semi-automatic loading, thus creating two distinct work sections that can be used selectively by a single operator.

Description: The present invention relates to a machine for electrically testing at least one side of a printed circuit board. As is known, the machines that allow electrical testing of printed circuit boards can be automatic or manual. Generally speaking, the automatic machines are composed of a press, which has a loading area and a test area, into which the board to be tested is transferred by a conveyor or carrier. Such an automatic machine is known from US-A-5 094 584, which discloses the prior art portion of claim 1. If carriers are used a mask has to be made on them for conveying the board, and consequently it is necessary to construct further elements, whose cost has to be added to that of the adapter which is always present in any case, this being the element that permits translation between the points of the board being tested and the fixed pitch electrical contact area provided at the level of the press with parallel surfaces. This means that in many cases, for example when the number of boards to be tested is limited, the cost of the mask cannot be justified. In these cases it is therefore advantageous to use manual machines, in which the operator manually positions the printed circuit board in the test area and operates the press to carry out the test. During error identification, the possibility of operating directly on the test surface is an undeniable advantage in that it saves time and facilitates the work. In other words, the automatic machines currently available on the market have considerable operating limits and are not versatile. The aim of the invention is to overcome the drawbacks described above, by providing a machine to carry out the electrical test on only one side of a printed circuit board, or simultaneously on both sides, which affords the possibility of obtaining two perfectly identical work stations, although the machine has only one operator. A further aim of the invention is to provide a test machine for printed circuit boards that is able to offer the fullest guarantees of reliability and safety in use. The machine for performing the electrical test on at least one side of a printed circuit board according to the invention has the characteristics described in the appended claims. In particular the machine comprises a frame supporting a press with parallel surfaces, said frame having a loading area, a test area and a press head parking area. In addition, means are provided for moving the head from the test area to the parking area, in order to create two distinct workstations, that can be used selectively by a single operator. The characteristics and further advantages of the invention will be made clearer on examination of the description of a preferred, but not exclusive embodiment of a machine for electrically testing a printed circuit board, illustrated by way of nonlimiting example with the aid of the appended drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of the machine seen from the test area side; Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of the machine seen from the other side, i.e. from the loading area; Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 schematically illustrate, in sequence, use of the machine directly from the test area, showing the movement of the upper electrical testing head; Figures 7 and 8 are schematic side elevation views of the machine, showing the movements of the upper head of the press assembly; Figure 9 shows schematically the means for moving the upper head; Figure 10 shows the same means as in Figure 9 in a plan block diagram; Figure 11 shows schematically the use of the machine set up for automatic testing, with loading of the circuits on carriers; Figure 12 is a schematic cross section of the carrier handling system, taken for example along the line XII-XII in Figure 11; Figures 13a, 13b and 13c are schematic views in longitudinal section showing, respectively, handling of the carriers, lowering of the section of mobile rail to bring the lower carrier and the upper carrier, respectively, into the test position; Figures 14, 15, 16 and 17 are schematic cross sections taken in the test area of the machine, showing a sequence of stages during testing of a printed circuit board positioned on the lower carrier; With particular reference to the numerical symbols in the above figures, a machine for carrying out the simultaneous electrical test on both sides of a printed circuit board is illustrated and described but clearly the same machine can be used to test just one side of the board. Such a machine comprises a frame, indicated as a whole by reference number 1, which supports a press 2 with parallel surfaces, which preferably has a stroke of 400 mm. The frame 1 has a loading area 3, a test area 4 and a parking area 5 of the press head 100. The loading area 3 is advantageously situated at one end of the machine, to facilitate the incoming flow of the boards to be tested and so as to be directly accessible to an operator, whether automatic or manual. The test area 4 may be situated in the center, to reduce transport time, but in this case it is poorly accessible if the apparatus is used without a carrier, with manual loading of the boards. The test area 4 is preferably positioned on the opposite side to the loading side, thus making the test area more accessible for manual operations. It is clear, however, that other arrangements are possible besides the one illustrated. With the arrangement shown in the appended figures, therefore, it is possible to pass without any modifications from use of the machine with a carrier to operation of the machine directly on the adapter, placed in the test area. The workstation can be varied extremely easily, in that the control terminal, indicated by 7 (Figure 3), can easily be moved from one workstation to the other. Alternatively, two mutually exclusive terminals 7 could be used, each positioned in a respective work station 3 or 4. In the case of operation of the machine with manual loading, as shown in figures 3 to 6, the operator positions the piece for testing directly on the adapter, in the test area 4, as will be better described below. This is facilitated by the fact that the head 100, besides moving vertically, on columns 101 (see also figures 7 and 8), by means of vertical screws (102), withdraws to the parking area 5 towards the center of the machine (Figure 3), sliding horizontally on longitudinal guide members 103, as will be better described below. Subsequently, when the operator presses a double push-button control, the test area is closed, with the return to the closed position of the upper head 100, and the press is closed (Figure 4). At the end, again on a double-push-button command by the operator, the press is opened (Figure 5) and the upper head moves to the parking area, thus allowing the operator to replace the piece and start a new cycle (Figure 6). The test data are provided by machine terminal 7. To effect opening of the upper head 100, that is the horizontal translation movement, opening means are provided which are shown more clearly in Figure 9 and in the diagram in Figure 10 and are indicated as a whole by reference number 10. Said opening means comprise a continuous current electric motor 11, with position control, which, by means of toothed belts 12, acts on a threaded rod system 13, that operates a mobile frame 14. The presence of a continuous current motor with position control allows the degree of opening value to be adjusted, in order to optimize the stroke and reduce testing time. For correct positioning of the upper head 100 in the test area 4, a system of rigid mechanical stops 105 is provided, disposed on longitudinal members 103 as shown in the diagram in Figure 10, against which the head 100 abuts. A spring cartridge 106 is interposed to avoid dangerous load conditions of the motor 11. Obviously other means are possible for opening of the upper head 100, which may, for example, take place with rotation about a fulcrum of the upper head or, preferably, with rotary translation of the upper head itself. Alternatively, a press stroke exceeding one meter could be foreseen, in order to allow good access to the electrical contact area, without having any horizontal head movement and, in practice, creating a parking area positioned above the test area 4. In the case of operation of the machine with automatic, or rather semi-automatic, loading, as shown in Figures 11-13c, a system of two carriers 120, 121 is used to carry the circuits for testing from the loading area 3 inside the press, or test area 4. Such carriers 120, 121 have a perforated support for passage of the test needles. The two carriers move on parallel planes one above the other. They always move in opposite stokes: when one carrier is in the test position the other is in the loading position. The system that allows movement of the carriers 120, 121 is made up of two rails 130, each carrying two staggered seats 122 and 123 one on top of the other in which endless elastic belts indicated as a whole by 125 run, moved by an electric motor 126 (Figure 1). On the rails 130 there is a series of pulleys 127 that allow the movement of the belts. The carriers receive traction from the belts by simple friction, not being in any way constrained to them for reasons of operator safety. Each rail 130 guides an endless belt on the seats 122, 123 from the loading area 3 to the test area 4, and is divided into two sections 131, 132: section 132 is in the test area 4 and follows the vertical movement of the head 100 to allow the carrier 120 or 121 to position the printed circuit 200 on the lower test apparatus, whilst the section 131 that is situated in the loading area remains at a constant height to allow the circuits to be loaded and unloaded from the carriers. The height of the entire carrier handling system, that is the system of rails 130 and elastic belts 125, can in turn be adjusted to allow the machine to adapt to test apparatus of different sizes, as will be better explained below. The rail section 132 that is situated in the test area 4 is constrained to the section 131 of the loading zone by means of an articulated parallelogram mechanical system (135) that ensures that the two rail sections 131, 132 are maintained parallel to each other even when the test area section 132 moves vertically to follow the head 100. The alignment of the two sections is ensured by special mechanical stops and by the force provided by a pre-loaded spring 136. From figures 13a-13c it can be noted that the use of elastic belts 125 makes it possible to follow the change in the center distance between the terminal pulleys resulting from the rotation of the parallelogram 135, without any need for systems to provide or take up tension. The correct working tension of the belt is obtained by adjusting the length of the belt itself: The correct position of the carrier 120 or 121 both in the loading area and in the test area, is determined by the respective mechanical stops 140, 141 (Figure 11). Each mechanical stop has a sensor to detect the presence of the carrier in the correct position. The machine checks that the sensors are both active before stopping the belt drive motor. In the fleeting interval of time necessary for the sensors to be activated simultaneously, the elastic belts slide on the carrier which is already positioned against the mechanical stops; this is possible because there is no constraint between the belts and the carriers. Connected to the upper head 100 there is a pressure device 150 which comes into contact with the structure of the mobile rail 132 to cause it to move: the height of said device 150 can in turn be adjusted by means of a screw system 151 (see also figures 14-17) to accommodate different sizes of upper test apparatus on the machine. With reference to Figures 14 to 17, the stages of testing a printed circuit indicated by reference number 200 will now be described briefly. In these figures the printed circuit 200 is positioned on the lower carrier 121, and the test is to take place simultaneously, both on the lower side and on the upper side, but clearly it would make no difference if the printed circuit 200 were placed on the upper carrier 120 or directly on the lower test apparatus, in the case of manual loading, in which the carriers 120 and 121 are removed from the machine. It is also obvious that the test can be carried out only on the lower side of the printed circuit 200, in which case the upper test apparatus is missing. In Figures 14 to 17 the means that allow the machine to operate with adapters of different types are illustrated and will be described below. These figures are schematic cross-sections taken in the test area 4 of the machine. Figure 14 corresponds to the position in which the carrier 121, which conveys the circuit 200, is halted through the effect of the mechanical stop 141 and the upper part of the press, indicated as a whole by the reference number 201, is about to start its descent, the lower part being indicated by reference number 202. Figure 15 shows the position in which, as a result of the vertical downward movement of the upper part 201 of the press, the pressure system 150 comes into contact with the mobile section 132 of the guide rails 130 of the elastic belts 125 that convey the carriers. Figure 16 shows the machine set-up at the moment when, as a result of the vertical movement of the press, the pressure system 150 lowers the mobile section 132 of the rails 130, bringing the carrier 121 into contact with the lower test adapter, allowing the cirucit to come into contact with the centering devices of the adapter itself Figure 17 shows the machine set-up in the position in which the vertical movement of the upper part 201 of the press stops and the electrical test is carried out on the circuit 200. In this position the pressure system 150 has lowered the mobile section 132 of the rails 130 to a lower height than that of the carrier 121, deposited together with the circuit 200 on the lower adapter 31. As is known, the test consists of checking that all the nets present on the printed circuit board 200 are insulated from each other and that there is electrical continuity between the points in each net. This is done by means of electrical contacts with well defined points in the circuit, in a known manner, which will not be described further. From what is described above, it can be seen that the invention achieves the proposed aims. In particular, it should be stressed that the machine thus realized allows two different workstations to be created, accessible to a single operator, obtaining an extremely versatile machine and the possibility of working either with or without a carrier. The invention, thus conceived, lends itself to numerous variants and modifications within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Moreover, the materials employed, provided they are compatible with the specific use, and the dimensions and contingent shapes can be of any kind, according to requirements.

Claims: A machine for electrically testing at least one side of a printed circuit board (200), comprising a frame (1) supporting a press (2) with parallel surfaces, that acts on the circuit (200) to carry out the test on it, and a press head (100), said frame having a loading area (3) and a test area (4) and means for automatically transferring the circuits from the loading area (3) to the test area (4) and vice versa, characterized by the fact that said frame (1) has a parking area (5) for the press head (100), means for moving said head (100) from the test area (4) to the parking area and vice versa, to allow manual loading of the circuit boards (200) in the test area thus creating two distinct work stations, one at said loading area (3) and the other at said test are (4), that can be used selectively by a single operator. A machine according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that said loading area (3) and test area (4) are situated at the two ends of said frame (1), while said parking area (5) is situated in the central part of the frame. A machine according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that said parking area (5) is situated in a raised position with respect to said test area (4). A machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the fact that said means for moving the head (100) from the test area (4) to the parking area (5) and vice versa operate by translation and comprise a linear actuator (13) that acts on the head (100) through interposition of a spring cartridge (106), mechanical stops (105) being provided to halt the head (100) in the test position. A machine according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said head (100) can be moved vertically on columns (101). A machine according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said means for transferring the printed circuit boards (200) from the loading area (3) to the test area (4) and vice versa comprise a pair of rails (130), on which the circuits (200) travel in opposite directions moving on two parallel planes one above the other, so that while one circuit is transferred to the test area, another circuit that has already been tested is transferred to the loading area. A machine according to claim 6, characterized by the fact that said rails (130) accommodate and guide an elastic belt conveyor system (125), on which carriers (120, 121) designed to support the respective printed circuits (200) rest without any constraint, disposed one above the other, stops (140, 141) being provided to halt the carriers (120, 121) in the loading area (3) and the test area (4), respectively. A machine according to claim 6 or 7, characterized by the fact that said rails (130) are of an adjustable height and they comprise a fixed section (131) in the loading area and a vertically mobile section (132) in the test area (4), the two sections (131, 132) being connected to each other by means of an articulated parallelogram (135) that ensures that they are parallel. A machine according to claim 8, characterized by the fact that said vertically mobile section (132) of the rail (130) is operated by a pressure element (150) that is adjustable on screws (151) and is integral with the upper head (100) of the press.

Inventors: NUCCI FERNANDO, NUCCI, FERNANDO
Applicants: MANIA TECNOLOGIE ITALIA S P A, MANIA TECNOLOGIE ITALIA S.P.A.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: G01R31
IPC codes: G01R1, G01R31